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Cutscene Script: Beijing
Tienanmen Square: Cutscene - Rob Brown Triggered upon the player meeting a particularly haggard merchant in the Dongcheng district during 'The People in Charge’ (quest), asking about Beijing’s history of spirits will lead to this expositional cutscene. Merchant (Narrating): In the old world, this place came to be known as a landmark of oppression to all but those truly devoted. Camera fades in at the base of the Monument to the People’s Heroes, slowly panning upwards to reveal the disrepair, debris and flooding that came about from the re-enchantment expanding the bodies of water to the west of the square. '' Merchant (Narrating): Not necessarily to the leader, maybe not even the land for some of them, no, this place used to mean home to those who devoted their very beings to the betterment of the people. ''The camera strafes backwards to show the old merchant standing alone amongst the rubble. '' Continued Narration: In the most frightening way, it still does. ''Both their head and the camera turn to the left, coming to a rest with what remains of Great Hall of the People taking the full frame. As the camera lingers here for a few seconds, a sudden “glitch” in the camera shows thousands of spirits roaming around the square, particularly congregating around the Great Hall before vanishing again without a trace. Rotating back to the merchant shot, the camera shows him still gazing at the Great Hall, clearly distraught despite his lack of surprise. '' Continued Narration: Souls that were partially bound to this plane, fragments of Gifted souls that wished in their dying breath that they could do more for those who their homeland. ''He quickly collects himself and turns his head to face the other direction, where the National Museum of China lays completely flattened. Again, apparitions come into view. This time frozen in positions of reverence and worship. While the sheer number of apparitions makes any formation hard to discern, they appear to almost be queuing around the museum to get into a building that fell shortly after the re enchantment. Continued Narration: Ideals may have changed, but the passion that gave them life remains. And the part that terrifies my being to the very core is that I think that they, trapped in a world that may never recognize their suffering again, might just be more lost than we are. As the narration continues, the ‘glitches’ in which the apparitions pop up become more and more frequent, building a frantic crescendo as they rubber-band in and out of existence. As the tension reaches its peak, it completely disperses as the Merchant turns around the face the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Continued Narration: The re enchantment was simply a tool to illustrate what we should have known from the beginning; to raise any single name and put it on a pedestal is to do these tortured souls an injustice even fouler than whatever force anchored them here. The camera fades to black once again, fading back in to the dialogue with the player that led to the cutscene. Merchant (Before ending dialogue): Now I know you’re new here, I know that these words may mean nothing to you, but I can sense your power and hope beyond hope that you may be able to help these souls find rest. If any of this confuses you, just ask yourself what the re-enchantment would mean for you if you were one of them. Travel in peace. Relevance to wider story world Introducing a more spiritual aspect to Beijing post-re-enchantment seemed like a natural extension of the story world. In theory the re-enchantment would breathe life into prominent cultural artefacts/beliefs for different cultures, with China having a rather troubled history, a sympathetic branch of storytelling made sense to compliment the more function driven quest-lines of the area.